All Palaces in Vicenza

Loggia del Capitaniato, also known as Palazzo del Capitaniato or Loggia Bernarda, is a palace in Vicenza, located in the central Piazza dei Signori, in front of Basilica Palladiana. The palace, designed in 1565 by the architect Andrea Palladio, is currently the seat of the city council. In 1994, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.   SHORT HISTORY In 1565, the Municipality of Vicenza asked Andrea Palladio to build a palace for the Captain, the military head in charge of the city on behalf of the Republic of Venice. The palace was to replace a pre-existing medieval building, already used as the residence of the Captain. Because the construction of the Palladian Basilica was still in progress, Palladio found himself engaged on two fronts located in the same square. For Palazzo del Capitaniato, he was able to exploit the architectural and stylistic knowledge acquired in the last 20 years of work in Vicenza. Like many other buildings of the Venetian architect, the palace remained partially unfinished. The works were stopped in 1572, with only three bays built, instead of the five or seven originally planned. Just like Read more [...]

Palazzo Angaran, also known as Palazzo Magrè Angaran, is a Renaissance-style palace in Vicenza, located in Piazza XX Settembre, in front of Ponte degli Angeli.   SHORT HISTORY The palace was built around 1480 at the behest of Battista Magrè, on a piece of land belonging to the family, probably by the Vicentine architect Tommaso Formenton. In 1552, the palace was bought by Giacomo Angaran, a friend of Andrea Palladio, who asked the architect to prepare a sumptuous invention to replace the existing building. Palladio designed the project, but it was never realized. The last owner, Ottavio Angaran Porto, ceded the property to the Municipality of Vicenza, which allowed the building to deteriorate. In 1899, a few years after the disastrous flood of 1882, to avoid further damages caused by the frequent flooding of the nearby Bacchiglione River, the street level around the building was raised, almost completely burying the portico. In the second decade of the 20th century, the building was so badly deteriorated, that the Municipality of Vicenza considered demolishing it. Starting from 1921, however, the restoration began. The palace was dismantled piece by piece and rebuilt to a higher level, replacing only the dilapidated moldings and the Read more [...]

Loggia Valmarana is a Palladian-style loggia in Vicenza, located on the northeastern corner of the Salvi Gardens (Giardini Salvi), opposite the main entrance from Viale Roma. Since 1994, together with the other Palladian buildings in Vicenza, Loggia Valmarana is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.   SHORT HISTORY The land adjacent to the walls of Piazza Castello was acquired in the 16th century by the Valmarana family, and Giacomo Valmarana himself designed the arrangement of the garden, around the middle of the 16th century. The gardens were inaugurated in 1592 by Leonardo Valmarana, but soon were closed and reopened to the public only in 1909. Inside the gardens, there are two Palladian-style loggias: one from the 17th century, with three arches, known as Loggia Longhena, on the western side of the park, and the second, built at the end of the 16th century, known as Loggia Valmarana, structured as a hexastyle temple. Loggia Valmarana was probably built in 1591 by a pupil of Andrea Palladio, and not by Palladio itself, as it was once thought.   ARCHITECTURE Loggia Valmarana rises above the waters of the Seriola Canal, at the Read more [...]

Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance-style palace in Vicenza, located in Piazza Matteotti, next to Corso Andrea Palladio, in the vicinity of Teatro Olimpico. Designed in 1550 by the architect Andrea Palladio, the palace houses the Civic Museum of Vicenza since 1855, and was included in 1994 in the UNESCO World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.   SHORT HISTORY The palace was commissioned by Count Girolamo Chiericati to Andrea Palladio in 1550, and the construction of the building began in the following year. In 1557, the count died and the works were stopped. The son of Girolamo, Valerio, limited himself to decorate the interiors of the palace, involving some great artists of the time, like Bartolomeo Ridolfi, Giovanni Battista Zelotti, Giovanni Antonio Fasolo and Battista Franco. The palace remained unfinished for more than a century, and it was completed only in 1680, following the design of Palladio, who died in 1580. The Municipality of Vicenza purchased the building in 1839 from the Chiericati family, with the intention of collecting the most important art of the city. The palace was restored by the architects Berti and Giovanni Miglioranza, and the Civic Museum was inaugurated on Read more [...]

Palazzo Porto in Piazza Castello, also known as Porto Breganze, is a palace in Vicenza, located in Piazza Castello, designed around 1571 by the architect Andrea Palladio for Alessandro Porto. It is one of the two palaces designed by Palladio in Vicenza for the Porto family, the other being Palazzo Porto, for Iseppo Porto, located in Contrà Porti, and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.   SHORT HISTORY Alessandro Porto inherited the family properties in Piazza Castello after the death of his father, Benedetto Porto, which took place in 1571. The family assets were divided between the brothers Alessandro, Orazio and Pompeo. Francesco Thiene, owner of the Palladian palace of the same name at the other end of Piazza Castello, married Isabella Porto, Alessandro’s sister, and a competition began between the two families for having the most imposing palace in the square. The palace was designed with seven bays and a courtyard with an exedra, as shown by an analysis of the surviving walls, but the works were stopped near the end of the 16th century and never resumed. The reasons remain unknown. Between October 2009 and the Read more [...]